Kunashir Island, Russia
Kunashir Island (Russian: Кунаши́р; Japanese: 国後島, Kunashiri-tō; Ainu: クナシㇼ‎ or クナシㇽ, Kunasir) is a district only 24km northeast from the coast of Hokkaido, and is administered by Russia yet still claimed by Japan. It is a fairly notorious overflow district, a place that other districts can send undesirable or excess souls to for any reason. Composers from both Russia and Japan are allowed to send undesirable Souls to Kunashir Island as a result of the location. While it does not have any proper alliances, it accepts virtually anyone with minimal paperwork. While they allow Players from any country in Asia, other countries generally have their own dump districts. Despite this, Kunashir sees games of around 30-50 players quite often. The island iself is largely very mountainous and forested, and is not very densely colonized, beyond a few sparse settlements here and there -- the largest of which is Yuzhno-Kurilsk at a population of around 6,000. It is an unusually large independently run district, at 1,490 square kilometres (370,000 acres) in size, and 123 kilometres (76 mi) in length. It is not a common destination for transfer reapers, but it is often a starting point for them. Current Standing Officers Producer: TBA Composer: TBA Conductor: Aiji Kitazawa Other Notable Officers: '''TBA '''Other Notable Reapers: Katsuo Aisaka About Much different from most city-based Reaper's Games, Kunashir Island is run much like a hunting/survival competition, claiming the heads or defining features of the Noise they catch for points. These points determine what options are available to the Player upon winning. Kunashir holds three Reaper’s Games per year; one in spring, one in summer, and one in autumn. If the Composer receives a high volume of Souls (over 30) after autumn, there is a fourth Game in winter. Noise Noise run wild in the UG, rather than in any Noise Plane, and are generally formed and released by the Conductor prior to a week. Their noise patterns are more subtle than other area’s, and harder to distinguish them from RG wildlife. However, the RG wildlife is unable to see or interact with any Players in the UG. All eligible Noise will attack Players on sight, regardless of type. Not only carnivorous animal Noise exist in Kunashir; there are herbivorous Noise as well that will also attack Players. The carnivorous Noise also feed on other Noise on occasion, herbivorous on Noise plants (see below), and the Conductor will create and release more Noise each day if there is a shortage. In addition to wild animal Noise, there are also Noise plants that grow in the UG, which reflect the RG in that some are poisonous, some are harmful, some have curative properties, and some are perfectly edible and tasty. The Players are encouraged to eat the Noise Plants, as well as parts of their Noise kills, in order to give them strength, among other benefits similar to food's benefits in other districts. (This requires the technical consumption of static.) The Noise do not dissipate into static immediately upon their 'erasure' in Kunashir Island's games, instead remaining lifeless in the UG for around three hours, while the Player(s) who felled it uses the tools they were given at the start of the Game to take the Noise's head, or other defining features. After a Noise kill, the Player reports the kill to a Support Reaper, who scores it and gives points according to the checklists. Players Notably, while there are no Partnerships, each Player receives a backpack with a toolkit, including a variety of instruments necessary for their survival. This includes knives, a collapsible tent, a compass, a guidebook, a handheld radio, and a normal hunting weapon of choice. The guidebook exists in the survival toolkit to help Players identify what can be eaten as food from a Noise, or any of the wild Noise plants in the UG. Players are very much allowed to work together, but any points earned are split equally between them. While Players do not receive Pins, they are given a Psych in addition to the backpack / survival kit given to them upon the beginning of the Kunashir Reaper’s Game. However, it is only a choice between various hunting weapons and tools. Similarly, threads are very uncommon, though they do exist in a small number of shops. It is entirely possible one will never run into a shop in their time on Kunashir. A Player’s entry fee is generally an important ability related to survival. This is usually the most helpful asset a Player would have, or one of their senses. However, the Entry Fee will never take away sight, hearing, or speech. Examples include quick reflex time, sense of pain, sense of touch, etc. Players who survive to the end of the week are to fight a much more challenging, larger wild Noise somewhere nearby them, in place of a Game Master. These are much bigger than regular (or even large) Noise or normal Reaper's Noise forms, and take much more precision and dexterity to kill. Notably, there is one of each of these for each Player, which will chase after the Player. If the Player has not slain one of these final Noise, that Player is erased at 12:00 AM, the end of the seventh night. Exceptions to this are rare and only made to allow Reapership. The points for the kills a Player scored during the game affect the choices they have upon winning. Any winning Player without a sufficient number of points for any other option is only allowed Erasure. Re-playing, Reapership, reincarnation, and ascension are the other options given to players, ordered from lowest to highest in the number of points necessary to be offered each option. As Kunashir is an overflow district, however, reincarnation and ascension are extremely difficult to obtain, and require a very high number of points. Re-playing is a relatively lower point requirement, and while there is technically no penalty for continually playing each week, the Noise and Reapers become more wary of Re-players, and the status tends to place a target on their back. It is very uncommon for a Re-player to win, as the Harriers tend to target Re-players more aggressively. Reapers Officer Reapers maintain most of the paperwork, keep an eye on Players and Reapers to note exceptional skills in either, view the options for the Player scores, and carry out the various tasks the Conductor delegates. They are encouraged to use their Noise Forms when away from the central Reaper location. Harrier Reapers are to spend the entire Game week in Noise Form, and there is no limitation on when a Reaper can attack a Player personally in their Noise Form. They do have to erase/eat one Player per week. Fallen Harrier Reapers are still eligible for a Player to receive points. There are more points to be received in felling one than any other Noise. Support Reapers maintain the Player's scores, phase and report to the Player’s location when being summoned to grade a Noise kill, and observe Harriers when they attack Players. The Composer, Conductor and Producer roles function largely the same way most in city-based Reaper's Games do. Noise forms vary greatly due to the overflow district status. While these are usually animals, due to the wide variety of Players pulled, it is also very common for resulting Reapers to have mythological noise forms. It is also rather common for a more experienced Reaper of any rank to have more than one Noise form. Alternate Noise forms are generally derived by necessity or on accident (during a spike in Imagination, or adrenaline rush, etc.) but can be trained to a Reaper, if the Composer, Conductor or Producer have an interest in a Reaper enough to assist them. (Officers are not trained in static manipulation.) Wing shapes vary greatly in Kunashir Island; there is no 'standard' shape, it is like an extension of their initial Noise form. It also may change with the Reaper's power, experience, or when the Reaper gains another Noise Form. Additionally, it's not uncommon for Reapers to unconsciously (or consciously) show features reminiscent of parts of their Noise Form while in their human form (within the UG.) Reapers generally develop or grow these over time as they become used to their Noise Form and it integrates with their UG appearance slightly; horns, claws, a second set of wings, tails, tattoo-style noise parts, areas with scales, patches of fur, etc. are all seen. It is unusual for these to be very large; most features reflected from Noise form are small differences, and each Reaper can choose to show or hide these. However, for Harriers especially, showing them in the UG is much like blinking; one can do it consciously, but most of the time it is an unconscious movement. Reapers transferring out are encouraged to visit their destination district of choice, and maintain their human forms in the RG for a prolonged period of time before beginning the process to transfer properly. They are also allowed to remain and live in other districts (in the RG) during the majority of the year aside from Game weeks, if they wish. Most Kunashir Reapers will only return to the island before and during a Game week. Reapers who wish to interact with, or remain in another district’s UG, as opposed to the RG, must consult with the Kunashir Composer through the Conductor, as well as the district of choice’s Composer. As a result, the Kunashir Conductor, Aiji, travels a lot to meet with foreign Composers. History Kunashir Island's district was first created in 1904, during the first Russo-Japanese war. The positions resulting were given to two Officer Reapers from a nearby district to serve as Composer and Conductor, and a variety of Reapers from other Japanese and Russian city districts. It was an overflow district from the beginning, primarily taking soldiers from the war from both countries. It saw more limited use between 1905 and the 1930s, running a Game once a year on average at that time. During the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, Kunashir held once to twice yearly Games, until World War II and the Soviet-Japanese war broke out, then increasing to four per year. After World War II, it settled into two games per year, but varied depending on the quantity of Souls transferred. After the Vietnam War began, Kunashir opened formally to allow any Soul from anywhere in Asia, which saw an increase from the average two games per year, up to three or four. The Composer has not changed since the origin of the district, though there have been two previous conductors, both eventually giving up the position to transfer elsewhere and the Composer promoting an officer to the rank. Trivia * Many of the island's oldest Reapers are formerly soldiers of many armies, as a result of the district's pulling soldier's Souls during war time. Sometimes, this results in Reaper to Reaper conflict between soldiers of formerly opposing factions. * Unlike many other overflow districts, Kunashir generates a fairly large amount of Reapers, with having a lower point requirement upon winning than reincarnation. Category:Browse Category:Districts